I think it’s funny that the official (by general consensus) New Years song in the United States of America is something that most Americans don’t understand, and can only sing three or four lines from, and then mutter the rest.

This is a Scottish folk tune that dates back as far as 1677 (probably earlier) that is sprinkled with old Gaelic, and as far as most people can tell, is about “Old Lang Signs.”

Whatever that means.  No one cares – no one is sober as they sing it.  Right?

Curious, I had to research this, and it turns out the song, in a nutshell, means, “Should we forget old friends?  No.  For as time goes by, we’ll all drink a cup of kindness yet.”  It goes on to sing about even though you may be far away from old friends, at least you’re all in a pub somewhere, drinking to each other at the same time.

In 1677 they didn’t have telephones.  Instead they used widespread synchronized drinking as a sort of telepathic way to reach out to each other.  You sat at a pub and drank to old friends and knew in your heart that at that very second they were doing the same, drinking to you.

So in the spirit of that, at midnight tonight I will be raising a bottle and drinking to all my family and friends.  I wish for you a happy new year!  Let’s defy the doom and gloom news media and make it a wonderful year for everyone.

For the curious, here’s the actual lyrics to the original authentic version of Auld Lang Syne:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !
And surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot,
Sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin auld lang syne.

CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gie’s a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

CHORUS

I took this photo this morning while flying from Illinois to Georgia. It's times like these when I love being in an airplane.

Hello my Xanga friends. Some of you may not even remember me. It's that "WickedGlee" Jerry guy.

Yes I'm still alive.

Lady Savina and I are still together and happy. We no longer work at the same place, though. She was laid off last Friday. Everything is okay, though. I'm taking good care of my love.

However, trouble is brewing. My job is relocating. She may not get to go with me. The problem is that her divorce that should have been over and done with is still dragging on, and that is going to keep her stuck here.

I have been so tied up with work and domestic bliss that it hasn't even left any time for writing on my novel, let alone keeping up with Xanga.

Now that I can post to Xanga with my iPhone, though, you may see more of me.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Later!

A freaky looking bug we found at LadySavina's the other weekend...

I broke down and got myself the ultimate gadget. I am now an iPhone owner. In fact I'm writing this using my new toy.

Inflatable dog turd sculpture escapes Swiss museum, wreaks havoc
FROM CBC NEWS - Original Article Here

A powerful gust of wind recently swept a house-sized sculpture of dog feces from its display outside a Swiss museum, an art official in Berne said Monday.

The incident took place on the night of July 31, but details of the artwork's escape — and the havoc it caused before its eventual landing — emerged just this week.

The massive inflatable sculpture, created by U.S. contemporary artist Paul McCarthy and titled Complex Shit, is part of the Paul Klee Centre's exhibit East of Eden: A Garden Show.

McCarthy's piece was displayed outdoors, among "weird and wonderful objects [forming] an animated kind of front garden," according to the museum website.

The sculpture is usually contained by a safety system that deflates it during instances of bad weather. However, the system failed on this occasion and the work escaped from the Klee Centre's garden, museum director Juri Steiner told Agence France-Presse.

The wind carried the work away, knocking down a power line and breaking a window at a nearby orphanage before falling to the ground about 200 metres from the centre.

The museum had yet to contact McCarthy about the incident, Steiner said. Officials are also contemplating whether to return the piece to display.

=========
Imagine the years of therapy those poor kids at the orphanage are going to need.

Scott Adam's take on the adventure:  Here

A broken, infected molar has ruined pretty much my whole week.  The antibiotics finally started kicking the infection's buttocks last night, and this morning is the first morning I haven't woken up in pain.  Tomorrow morning I'm scheduled to have what remains of the tooth extracted.

My love's future-ex showed up in town last night, unexpectedly, and she is not happy about that at all.  Whenever he shows up, there is an air of dread.  I know I'm biased but the man is evil -- you never know what mean, evil, spiteful thing he's going to do next.  What makes it worse is that he's so charming that he fools most people into thinking he's a total prince, and he's so good at controlling that he can even convince people who know better that he's a prince.

The secret seems to be, if you say something over and over and over, bombarding people with what you're saying, they'll start to believe it.  Even worse, they'll start disbelieving in themselves.

One can argue that's exactly what certain members of our government and news media do.  To us.

This is the reason we have screens on our windows.

I'm making good progress on my writing but I am not feeling so optimistic about finishing the first draft by August 15th.  It's okay, though, because if I can just get it close to being finished, that's just as good.

It's much easier to finish writing a novel that is already almost finished.  I mean, besides the obvious, it's psychologically easier to work on.

For my break today I did a little playing around with photography...

This is for my love.  "11" is our number.


Old Window Spring


Land Of Holes


Ghoul from 8th Dimension


Inside / Outside

And with that, I shall leave you with a mysterious piece of music, smuggled out of heaven by a rogue angel.  Needless to say it's very rare.  Elvis Presley and Bob Marley jamming together with their take on Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven."